WICHITA, Kan. — Jalen Love calmly stepped to the line to sink the game-tying and game-winning free throws with just seconds left as the Newman men's basketball team finished off the regular season with a wild 71-70 victory over St. Edward's on Senior Day at Fugate Gymnasium.
KEY SEQUENCE
Love seemed unfazed by the craziness around him after the Hilltoppers (17-11, 10-10 Heartland) managed a steal and a layup from John Gramlich to take the lead with just 10 seconds left in the game. The senior took the inbounds pass and flew down the court, straight into the lane and drew a foul to keep the Jets (16-12, 9-11 Heartland) in it with 6.8 seconds on the clock. He sank the first free throw to tie things at 70-all, then after a timeout by St. Edward's, splashed the second one home to push the hosts in front.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-In a season of fast starts, the Jets saved perhaps their best for their final home game, scoring the first 11 points of the game in a span of just over three minutes, all with their five seniors on the court. Gavin Thurman hit a pair of buckets around a Cortrael Colbert layup, and Jalen Love hit a 3-pointer and followed it up with an offensive putback to make it 11-0 with 16:41 on the clock.
-The Hilltoppers brought it back as close as five points over the next two minutes, but the Jets responded once again, with a big 3-pointer from Daniel Nwosu and a layup from Thurman. Jarvis Williams followed with a slick finish at the rim and added a quick trey to make it a 24-11 lead for the hosts with 12:51 left in the first half.
-It didn't take long for SEU to climb back into the game though, scoring 19 of the next 20 points to shoot ahead by five. The Jets went ice cold from the field during this stretch, as the Hilltoppers picked up the pace and ended up leading by as much as nine with 2:20 remaining in the half, taking a six-point advantage into the locker room.
-The first six-plus minutes of the second half didn't see much progress made by the Jets. Back-to-back buckets from Love and Thurman cut the lead to four, and a three-point play by Love less than a minute later brought the lead down to three, but the Hilltoppers pushed right back out to a 48-41 lead as the clocked ticked past five minutes gone in the period.
-Beginning with a big 3-pointer from Taylor Schieber, the Jets began to find their footing, scoring the next 13 straight points over a span of five minutes. A layup from Thurman gave the lead back to the hosts for the first time in nearly 20 minutes at 49-48 with 9:48 to play, and another Schieber trey pushed the lead to four.
-That lead wouldn't last forever for the Jets, although it got as high as six and remained at four until 7:35 was left, which was the last time either team would lead by more than one possession. Free throws from Nwosu and Love bumped the lead to three after the guests tied things up, and two freebies out of Thurman with 3:57 remaining made it 61-59 in favor of Newman.
-SEU would snag the lead back when Gramlich nailed a 3-pointer and the ensuing free throw after being fouled to go up 63-61 on the next possession. A fastbreak bucket from James Pegues, off a feed from Love, tied things up again and Pegues finished off the three-point play to give the Jets back the lead. The two teams traded leads twice more in the next minute.
-Down by two and already missing a pair of 3-pointers that would have put them ahead, the Jets were able to snag an offensive rebound with a minute left, and Williams found Nwosu at the top of the arc for a huge go-ahead 3-pointer. Newman thought it had a stop on the next SEU possession, but the hosts turned the ball over to allow the Hilltoppers to score the go-ahead basket before Love clinched the win.
NOTES
-There were eight lead changes and two ties in the last 3:44 seconds of the game as the two teams went up and down the court. Nwosu's go-ahead 3-pointer was his second of the night, and came at a perfect time to snap his 0-for-7 streak from the field that followed his early make, as he drained the shot with confidence.
-Love was 4-of-8 from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the line — including the game-winners — to collect 16 points in his last time on the court at Fugate Gymnasium. The senior also added eight rebounds and two assists for the game, while 11 of his points came after halftime.
-Thurman led the Jets with 17 points on the afternoon, adding five rebounds, two assists and a block in 34 minutes of action, while fellow senior Pegues made it three Jets in double figures with 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Williams added nine points and Nwosu a big seven in the win.
-The Jets finished the regular season with back-to-back wins over teams ahead of them in the standings, and closed out the year with wins in five of their last eight games.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets have locked up the seventh seed at the Heartland Conference Tournament next weekend, and will play the second seed Friday afternoon at 2:30 at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Newman will face either Lubbock Christian or Arkansas-Fort Smith.
